School of Management Dean Louis Lataif, a former Ford executive, says rather than providing bailout financing to auto-parts suppliers it would be better for the entire industry for the government to provide bridge loans to the auto makers themselves.

“The American public is growing increasingly dismayed by ‘bailouts’ and I’m surprised the government continues to trickle out bailout money a few billion at a time. There is another approach which would seem to make more sense.

“If our government believes that auto jobs and the auto industryare so fundamental to the health of the economy that they should not be allowed to collapse (a position I share), then it should function as a ‘lender of last resort’ and provide bridge loans to the auto companies that will get them through the next 12-18 months.

“The pent-up demand for autos will then be enormous and the companies should be required to first pay back those bridge loans with interest, making the taxpayers whole. The amount involved might be $150 billion (a huge amount, but small in the context of the $787 billion stimulus for thousands of quewstionable probrams not fundamental to the economy). That approach would also help preserve the critical auto-supply base.”

School of Management finance Professor Mark T. Williams, an expert on energy risk management, says the global recession has overtaken the ability of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to set oil prices, which will be reflected in next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna.

“The global recession has put significant downward pressure on oil demand, forcing OPEC to be a price taker instead of a price setter. Complicating this is the fact that OPEC countries continue to rely heavily on oil revenue to support national budgets, so the recent free-fall in prices has pushed them into recessions themselves.

“OPEC countries have to jump-start their home economies and need more revenue to implement stimulus-type programs. When OPEC meets in Vienna on March 15, it is clear that these countries will make further cuts in daily oil-production targets. Equally clear is that this time the recession-driven market, not OPEC, is firmly in charge.

“Middle East OPEC countries influenced the last three major recessions – starting in 1973, in 1983, and today. Given the significance of oil in the global economy, it is nice to see that market forces – not OPEC – are finally determining this commodity’s appropriate price.”